ProMED: Undx'd illness - Nigeria: fatal, blindness, methanol poisoning
ebenezer
> UNDIAGNOSED ILLNESS - NIGERIA (04): (ONDO) FATAL, BLINDNESS, METHANOL
> POISONING
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> A ProMED-mail post
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> International Society for Infectious Diseases
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> Date: Mon 20 Apr 2015
> Source: Premium Times [edited]
> <http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/181774-nigerian-govt-says-ondo-strange-disease-under-control-blames-methanol-poisoning.html>
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> ?The Nigerian government has refuted a preliminary evaluation by the World Health Organization, WHO, which claimed a strange and deadly disease that ravaged a community in Ondo State was caused by pesticide, saying the actual culprit was "methanol poisoning". The government said on Monday [20 Apr 2015] that the disease had been brought under control after 18 deaths. In the past 100 hours, there has been no new case of the disease, and there has been no new fatality in the last 72 hours, Nigeria's minister of state for health, Fidelis Nwankwo, said. The minister said the government was investigating the particular poisonous methanol substance involved in the outbreak, and said that the stability achieved in the last few days will be sustained.
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> The strange disease broke out in the Ode-Irele community of Ondo state last week, leading to the several deaths. There have been conflicting reports on the number of deaths, with some saying at least 28 people died. Residents say the disease spread rapidly around the community and killed its victims within 24 hours after they developed loss of vision and severe headache.
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> WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl had said that the "current hypothesis is that the cause of the event is herbicides." Officials from the world health body have visited Irele town, the state health commissioner, Dayo Adeyanju, said. Mr Adeyanju said some youth consumed an alcoholic drink mixed with local herbs and said the drink was poisonous and contained methanol. Mr Adeyanju said 18 people had been confirmed dead, and 5 were receiving treatment at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
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> He said the government has started creating awareness on why people should stop taking gins mixed with local herbs, saying it has been difficult tracing the source of the alcoholic substance taken by some of the victims. The government advised residents to stop the consumption of the local gin, "Ogogoro". Mr Adeyanju promised that the result of ongoing investigations, including the toxicology test, will soon be made public.
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> Confirming Mr Adeyanju's position, the state coordinator for the World Health Organization, Akinola Fatigerun, said the victims did not die from pesticide as earlier speculated, but from methanol poisoning. A group of volunteers, Ebola Alert, which helped with the Ebola Virus Disease interventions in Nigeria, said samples taken from victims and tested in a laboratory in Lagos tested negative to Ebola and 5 other deadly diseases.
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> A community leader, Moses Enimade, the Oyewoga of Ode Irele in Ondo State, had claimed the disease came as punishment for the "sacrilege" committed against Molokun, the local deity in the area. He denied the rumour that the deaths were caused by a strange disease or Ebola virus, stating that some stubborn youth broke into the inner room of the Molokun shrine on 15 Apr 2015. He said that what happened in Irele was the judgment of the gods on the youth and could only be stopped through rituals.
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> The minister of state for health has said that suspected cases should be reported to the nearest health centre for prompt investigation and treatment.
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> [byline: Amina Mohammed]
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> --
> [The Ondo state health commissioner, according to the news report above, said that the outbreak in Ondo state was due to methanol poisoning following consumption of an alcoholic drink mixed with local herbs (Ogogoro) that contained methanol. However, he said also that "the result of ongoing investigations, including the toxicology test, will soon be made public." We await official publication of the results of these toxicology tests. - Mod.ML
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> A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at <http://healthmap.org/promed/p/62
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> >.]
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> Date: Sun 19 Apr 2015
> Source: The Guardian Nigeria, AFP (Agence France-Presse) report [edited]
> http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/04/ode-irele-weedkiller-likely-cause-of-mystery-disease-says-who/
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> Pesticide poisoning was the likely cause of the mysterious deaths of at least 18 people in a southwestern Nigerian town earlier this week, the World Health Organization said on Sunday [19 Apr 2015]. The "current hypothesis is cause of the event is herbicides," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in a tweet. "Tests done so far are negative for viral and bacterial infection," he added.
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> The victims began showing symptoms early last week in what Ondo state spokesman Kayode Akinmade called a "mysterious disease", prompting fears of a new infectious disease outbreak in a region ravaged by Ebola. The victims, whose symptoms included headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, died within a day of falling ill in the town of Ode-Irele, in south western Ondo state.
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> The Ondo state health commissioner, Dayo Adeyanju, told AFP on Saturday [18 Apr 2015] that 23 people had been affected. Akinmade said health officials and experts from the government and aid agencies, as well as WHO epidemiologists, had arrived in Ode-Irele to investigate the deaths. The tests were carried out at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, WHO said.
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> --
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> [Similar news reports were submitted by: Richard W Wilsnack, PhD <richard....@med.und.edu> and Abdulaziz Mohammed <abdulaziz...@gmail.com>.]
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> ******
> [2]
> Date: Sun 19 Apr 2015
> Source: Premium Times [edited]
> http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/181703-ondo-strange-disease-not-contagious-initial-results-show-ethanol-poisoning-official.html
>
> The Ondo State Government says a strange disease that has killed over a dozen people since its outbreak on [15 Apr 2015] in Ode-Irele, Irele Local Government Area of the state, is not contagious and could be a result of ethanol poisoning. The commissioner for health in the state, Dayo Adeyanju, stated this on Sunday [19 Apr 2015] at a news conference in Akure.
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> He said findings from postmortems carried out on the victims and other laboratory tests revealed that the disease was neither epidemic nor contagious.
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> According to the commissioner, preliminary reports showed ethanol poison found in the systems of all the victims. "Our investigations revealed that the victims, who are commercial motorcyclists, gathered at some local joints to take alcoholic substance mixed with roots and some other local herbs on the eve of the outbreak of the disease. I can assure you that the disease is in no way contagious. The fact that none of the caregivers has contracted the disease has greatly underscored this point. Therefore, the fear of spread does not arise and should be discouraged. We strongly suspect ethanol poison and in view of this, we have ordered for another toxicology test for surviving victims," Mr Adeyanju said.
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> Ebola Alert, an evidence-driven group of volunteer professionals who helped with the Ebola virus disease interventions in Nigeria, had said on Friday [17 Apr 2015] that samples taken from victims and tested in a laboratory in Lagos tested negative to Ebola and 5 other deadly diseases. "#OndoX samples tests negative for Ebola Virus, Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever Virus, Rift Valley Fever Virus, Dengue Virus, West Nile Virus," the organisation said.
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> The Ondo commissioner, who said that there had been no report of new cases in the last 3 days, explained that 18 out of the 23 people affected have died. He said the 5 survivors, who have currently gone blind, have been referred to the University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan, for further examination and monitoring.
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> Mr Adeyanju said he would not join issues with traditionalists who believe that the outbreak of the disease was because some youth stole from shrine of some gods. The commissioner, however, said that the dead would be buried in body bags to curtail any spread of the disease.
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> --
> communicated by:
> ProMED-mail rapporteurs Kunihiko Iizuka & Joe Dudley
>
> [Although the 2nd news report above says the toxin involved in the Ondo outbreak is ethanol, most likely the alcoholic toxin that was meant is methanol. Methanol intoxication commonly causes diminished visual acuity, which can progress to blindness. Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, is a commonly used industrial solvent. Most methanol poisonings occur as a result of drinking beverages adulterated with methanol. Methanol intoxication may also result from inhalation of high concentrations of methanol vapor or from skin contact (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750029.html).
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> A discussion of methanol poisoning can be found in moderator TG's comments in ProMED-mail post Methanol poisoning, fatal - India: (UP)20150113.3088258. - Mod.ML
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> Date: Sat 18 Apr 2015
> Source: Premium Times [edited]
> http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/181626-ondo-strange-disease-victims-test-negative-to-ebola-five-other-deadly-diseases.html
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> Laboratory tests have confirmed that the strange illness ravaging the Ode-Irele community in Ondo State, which is now known as [pound sign/hashtag]OndoX, is not Ebola virus disease.
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> Ebola Alert, an evidence-driven group of volunteer professionals who helped with the Ebola Virus Disease interventions in the country, said samples taken from victims and tested in a laboratory in Lagos tested negative to Ebola and 5 other deadly diseases. "[pound sign/hashtag]OndoX samples tests negative for Ebola Virus, Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever Virus, Rift Valley Fever Virus, Dengue Virus, West Nile Virus," the organisation said in an update provided via its twitter handle Friday night [17 Apr 2015]. It said the samples were "currently undergoing toxicology screen".
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> The strange disease had suddenly broken out in the sleepy community 5 days ago, leading to the death of no fewer than 28 people, according to Ebola Alert. Residents say the disease, whose cause remained unknown, spread rapidly around the community, killing its victim within 24 hours. Experts say victims manifest clinical symptoms such as headache, blurry vision/total blindness, convulsion and death.
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> Ebola Alert said 3 survivors have so far been reported.
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> In its effort at containing the spread of the disease, the Ondo state government on Friday [17 Apr2015] set up emergency task teams and a Situation Room to coordinate the response teams working from the frontlines. The state Commissioner for Health, Dayo Adeyanju, said in a statement that the 5 emergency response task teams were raised to handle different aspects of control mechanisms. The task teams are Contact Tracing Committee, Case Management Committee, Laboratory/Forensic Committee, Community Education & Mobilization Committee and Print, Electronic & Social Media Sensitization Committee.
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> "These and other measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of lives of our dear people of Irele. Let us continue to exercise calm and caution and eschew fear mongering as there is manifest evidence that the situation is being contained," Mr. Adeyanju said.
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> "In case of any suspected case, contact: WHO 08033720966, LGA DSNO - 08112524793 and the State Epidemiologist - 08062078384."
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> --
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> [A similar report was submitted by: Viki Hansen-Landis, RN, MPH,
> International SOS, <viki....@internationalsos.com>.
>
> The above news report says that laboratory tests on clinical samples from the Ondo State outbreak cases have ruled out an infection due either to Ebola Virus, Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever Virus, Rift Valley Fever Virus, Dengue Virus, or West Nile Virus. The news report also says that samples were "currently undergoing toxicology screen", but does not specify what toxins are being screened. - Mod.ML
>
> A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/62.]
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